Garage door decorative cover

Abstract

A decorative cover for a movable garage door and method of attachment thereof are provided that allow festive ornamentation of ordinary garage doors while maintaining full use of such garage doors. The decorative cover can be made of weather resistant material and printed with various festive designs on its surface. The decorative cover is installed by draping it onto the front of the garage door while the garage door is in its open position. The cover is then wrapped around the garage door and top and bottom ends of the cover are joined together on a back side of the garage door by any of several tethering methods to secure the cover to the garage door.

I claim: 
     
       1. A combination garage door and decorative cover, comprising: a garage door of a predetermined size positionable between open and closed positions;   a decorative cover fixedly located on an exterior front side of the garage door, the decorative cover being sized larger in at least one dimension than the garage door to which the cover is attached, top and bottom ends of the decorative cover extending around to a back side of the garage door;   attachment devices affixing top and bottom ends of the decorative cover directly to a back side of the garage door in a manner than allows partial movement of the ends of the decorative cover to allow for normal opening and closing of the garage door without the decorative cover riding up or down relative to the garage door; and   at least one flexible attachment device flexibly connecting the top and bottom ends of the decorative cover together to take up slack in the decorative cover and accommodate sufficient movement of the decorative cover to allow for complete opening and closing of the garage door.   
     
     
       2. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 1, wherein said decorative cover is insulative. 
     
     
       3. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 1, wherein an exterior surface of the decorative cover includes decorative printed indicia. 
     
     
       4. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 1, wherein the attachment devices directly affixing the decorative cover to the garage door include one or more grommets located near the top and bottom ends of the decorative cover and a tether cord attached directly between the one or more grommets and the garage door. 
     
     
       5. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 4, wherein the tether cord is attached directly between the one or more grommets and a hinge of the garage door. 
     
     
       6. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 4, wherein the tether cord is attached to the garage door at a position between the top and bottom ends of the decorative cover. 
     
     
       7. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 4, wherein the flexible attachment device includes at least one elastic cord. 
     
     
       8. The garage door and decorative cover of claim 7, wherein the flexible attachment device includes at least one bungie-type cord. 
     
     
       9. A combination garage door and decorative cover, comprising: a garage door of a predetermined size positionable between open and closed positions;   a decorative cover fixedly located on an exterior front side of the garage door, the decorative cover being sized larger in at least one dimension than the garage door to which the cover is attached, top and bottom ends of the decorative cover extending around to a back side of the garage door;   attachment devices affixing top and bottom ends of the decorative cover directly to a back side of the garage door in a manner than allows partial movement of the ends of the decorative cover to allow for normal opening and closing of the garage door without the decorative cover riding up or down relative to the garage door and to allow for complete opening and closing of the garage door.   
     
     
       10. A method of releasably fixing a decorative cover to a movable garage door, comprising: providing a decorative cover sized larger in at least one dimension than a garage door to which the cover is to be later attached;   providing at least top and bottom edges of the cover with attachment devices;   draping the decorative cover over a front of the garage door while the garage door is at least partially open such that the top and bottom edges of the decorative cover wrap around to a rear side of the garage door;   attaching at least some of the attachment devices directly to the garage door in a manner than allows partial movement of the edges of the decorative cover;   attaching at least one flexible attachment device to flexibly interconnect the top edge and the bottom edge of the decorative device and take up slack in the decorative cover, the attachment devices attached directly to the garage door and the flexible attachment device accommodating sufficient movement of the decorative cover to allow for complete opening and closing of the garage door while preventing the decorative cover from riding up or down relative to the garage door.   
     
     
       11. The method of claim 10, further comprising a step of providing printed indicia on an externally facing side of the decorative cover. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 10, wherein the top and bottom edges of the decorative cover include attachment devices comprising a plurality of spaced grommets and a plurality of tether cords, said step of attaching the decorative cover to the garage door including tying one end of a tether cord to a grommet located near left and right sides of each of the top and bottom edges and tying an opposite end of the tether cord to a portion of the garage door. 
     
     
       13. The method of claim 12, wherein one or more flexible cords are connected between at least one grommet located along the top edge and at least one grommet located along the bottom edge of the decorative cover. 
     
     
       14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of attaching at least one flexible attachment device to flexibly interconnect the top edge and the bottom edge of the decorative device includes running an elastic cord through a plurality of the grommets in a criss-cross pattern. 
     
     
       15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of attaching the decorative cover to the garage door includes tying said opposite end of the tether cord to a door hinge of the garage door. 
     
     
       16. The method of claim 15, wherein the opposite end of the tether cord is tied to a door hinge located between the top edge and the bottom edge of the decorative cover.